Illustration work

Time flies. Apparently I have illustrated the back page of Home Beautiful (David Smiedt's column) for over 50 issues!

A couple of my recent faves including the latest one on sale today...

paris- christmas

I could start a whole new blog just devoted to amazing little spots in Paris, but we must move on to Barcelona next! In any case, the city had a special impact on me. To say goodbye to Paris I leave you with 1. A little illo I've done to pay homage to the Eiffel Tower which is currently lit up blue with sparkling stars. 2. The address to my favourite secret spot in Paris, a little bar with the friendliest people, intimate atmosphere and cocktails that are almost too pretty to drink: La Famille, 41 Rue des Trois Freres, near Abbesses metro station. 3. The perfect piece of Paris to give as a gift this Christmas, a Memo perfumed candle in Christmas Tree & Snowflake scent.

crowded teeth

While many people go around complaining about Generation Y (how they're lazy, ungrateful and selfish), let's take a moment to look at a very talented and motivated young woman, Michelle Romo, who is completing an illustration every day of her 25th year and posting them for the enjoyment of the world on her blog Crowded Teeth. While there are plenty of young folk who can't even manage to shower once a day let alone get motivated to do a digital artwork, take it as an encouraging sign that all hope is not lost! I love the name too...it takes me back to my pre-braces days- if only I had a dollar for every time I was told I had crowded teeth!

profile: saffron craig

If you think the world is a better place when sprinkled with hand printed illustrations of owls, then today is your lucky day, because you're going to meet fabric designer extrordinaire, Saffron Craig. One of my favourite things about what she and husband Patrick create together, is that you have the choice of buying their gorgeous fabrics to fashion your own homewares, or if you're prone to having an anxiety attack at the site of a sewing machine like me, there's plenty of goodies they've prepared earlier that you can buy online here or here. Nothing makes me happier than seeing design practitioners go out on their own and be successful with products made with love in a real studio...so how does she do it?

Q.Describe your studio in 3 words...leafy, haven, changing

Q.What is the best and worst part about working creatively with your spouse? ... BEST: The creative contribution. He has great eye which I totally trust, he will always always find the solutions to a challenge, he is very calm and centered. WORST PART: We get so involved with the business our daughter has to fight for our attention.

Q.What was your first creative job and roughly how did it lead you to where you are now as an independent practitioner?... After completing and honors degree form Rmit I travelled overseas non stop through europe and the middle East and on returning did not find any creative jobs working for a few years retail was the easiest work for me to find, probably Nicola finetti was the most creative though not really. I started my own label with the support of friends who loved my clothing and wore them and asked for more, so that is what  led me to being an independent practitioner. I use to hand paint silk dresses and wanted to design fabrics so that is where I am now.

I wish I'd thought of that!

I hate to even bring up my uni days...not the most favourite 4 years of my life (crying over assignments, humiliating lecturers, carrying A2 sheets of pasteboard on the bus), but I do remember a particular textiles project where I sewed the outlines of palm fronds and poetic words onto a Bonds tee shirt (yes, i know, how did they let me graduate?). The lecturer rightly hated it and I had to do it again, i think I've blocked the final result from my memory, but I'd like to think that at the last moment I came up with the brilliant Idea of handstitching vintage wallpapers instead, like London's Claire Cole. Why didn't I take a cermaic tea cup and hand stitch that too, rendering it too beautiful and too full of little holes to drink from? When you have a 'why didn't I think of that?" moment, just accept that some people are talented freaks of nature and we should just marvel at the beauty they create instead of being jealous! 

natural curiosities

Just two weeks ago my brother in law made the discovery of a human skull on the beach, and made the front page of the local newspaper! While it was pretty interesting being involved in a mystery like that, most of us would prefer to find a lovely seahorse frozen by time, mid sea frolic. So if you're not lucky enough to live by the shore or want someone else to do the foraging through smelly seaweed for you, behold Natural Curiosities, who have all the beautifully illustrated nautical knowledge and botanical beauty you need to display your love for nature in the home.

"printed curiosities"

What a great phrase. It perfectly describes those pretty little printed things you pick up in a boutique paperie that you're not exactly sure what you'd do with, but are compelled to buy anyway. 'Printed curiosities' is one thing Brooklyn based Sesame Letterpress claim to make for you...gift tags, note books, but also a great custom design service for special occasions. Loving!

vintage bookworm

It's funny how stumbling across the raggedy cover of a children's book can transport you back to the exact time and place you were last reading it...for me it was often between the illustrated bed sheets at my Grandmother's house after jelly and icecream. Now I'm sure it's probably terrible etiquette to blog about a blog, but if you'd like a good quality trip down memory lane I suggest you visit www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com. I gasped aloud at the sight of 'Love is a special way of feeling', i book I read til it disintegrated. Warm fuzzies guaranteed.

hubba bubba dreaming

Like sexy little gummy bears straight out of a Sgt Pepper's type acid trip come the lucid little 'pupettes' of Maria Vittoria Benatti's illustration work. It's a hubba bubba induced kaleidoscope of cute imaginings for the world to enjoy, and there are more and more advertisers calling for her as her reputation grows beyond Italy where she's from. If you want to buy one on a t-shirt click here.

decoy indeed

Decoy: a beguiler who leads someone into danger (usually part of a plot); to lure or entrap with or as if with a decoy. Oh dear, it seems I've taken the bait! Liquidy watercolours. Beautiful girls. Pretty animals. Printed for you to treasure for just $20?

It's like a Derwent-induced hallucination and this is just a taste of what the unfairly gifted Maiko Kuzunishi has cooked up in her little laboratory! Visit Decoy Lab here.

cute as a button

Very. Strange. Coincidence. At age 3 I was a sunny little blonde girl in brown corduroy overalls (mine actually had an owl embroidered on the front) and I wore them to a kindy excursion to the farm. I kid you not. And I hated those overalls like you wouldn't believe. Only now, seeing this gorgeous art work in which the artist somehow psychically channelled my childhood do I see how cool they were...for a 3 year old in 1983. You can buy this art as well as vintage fabric covered buttons and badges (also shown) from The Button Tree. From $12!!!

ethereal delights

I didn't think it was unusual that I grew up on the back of my Dad's Ducati. He wore a black balaclava when  he rode it home from work in winter so it always seemed as if we were visited by a friendly burglar each weeknight. I was brainwashed to believe that a Ducati is the only motorcycle worth riding, but I have recently discovered that I also love Kawasaki...yes, I digress, I am now talking about the delightfully ethereal artist Audrey Kawasaki whose last name happens to be that of a motorbike label.

 Today, if you haven't already, you will fall under a spell...guided through misty forests, wildflowers and oceanic mystery you will discover that you love the art of Audrey  as much as I do!

feeling fifties

To this day my grandmother claims the best gift she was ever given was an Acme nappy wringer in 1956. No more boiling nappies in a copper pot, this modern invention changed her life forever. While I can't see the nappy wringer making a comeback, plenty of other household goodies from the fifties are, such as trusty wood veneer, the new canvas for many retro design houses and illustrators, including Pop Ink  (below) and Cabin and Cub.(above) Get your Mr Sheen ready to polish these babies for years to come!

my beautiful tea towel

When Mum drove us up the North Coast for holidays in the 80's, there was a part of the Pacific Highway she dreaded called Bulahdelah Forest. Dark with tall Eucalypts and very windy roads, we would reach this stretch of road when Mum was getting tired of driving and she would ask us to all sing a song to keep her awake. She made it up in her true random style by looking at something in the car to inspire her and taught us the words. It was about a tea towel and the melody was something akin to such ditties as  'chitty chitty bang bang' or 'Step in Time' from Mary Poppins in it's cheery repetitiveness and even lent itself to us singing rounds for the next hour. Sadly that part of the bush is now bypassed, but look Mum, there are some gorgeous new towels to sing about from Lovely Lovely on your next road trip. Lyrics to 'My Beautiful Tea Towel': My Beautiful tea towel! My beautiful tea towel!I love my faithful tea towel faithfully! oh faithfully! repeat (x10)

another famaous rabbit

French, impeccably dressed in designer dresses hot off the catwalk, her name is Fifi and she's a blogger too, with a facebook, a shop...oh, and did I mention she's an adorable illustrated bunny!

belle and boo

It's raining outside but children dance and play in the sunshiny world of belleandboo as we speak. Mandy Sutcliff's illustrated creations are a warm teapot of goodness on a day like this! Enjoy!

If I was a dress...

...this would be me. I love it, illustrated silk! It's by the quirky and mysterious Australian label Perks and mini, but I found it on US online shop called Creatures of Comfort! V. expensive, i would totally buy it if I wasn't going to Europe in few months!

Just looking

If you're reading this blog, you're probably 'just looking'. That's what I'm after from a blog, anyway. When you just want to look at pretty things streaming in a long line passed your tired eyes. Just looking...at all the pretty things in life. Just looking...hot in my latest purchase. Just looking... for inspiration. Just looking...cos I'm broke and it's the next best thing! The first little thing I have here is an illo I did for a lovely book called 'Words without Melody' by Nikki Fletcher.